I love Plants vs Zombies and Minecraft. These two games have generated quite a following and have quickly become favorites of geeks across the board. They have also inspired some really cool stuff on Etsy.

In honor of my new found appreciation of really freaking random holidays, here’s to Legal Drinking Age Day! No I’m completely serious (or at least as serious as I can be after a shot or two).

A new personal favorite is the black cherry Mike’s Hard Lemonade. A lot of friends of my boyfriend refer to Mikes and other flavored drinks as bitch beer, but I’ve never seen any of them turn it down (in fact you leave it in the fridge unattended while they are over and the stuff seems to mysterious vanish instantly).

Personally I can’t stand the taste of beer, but rum, now there’s a drink. Especially for cooking. I make rum spice cookies and rum pizzelles, and my brother’s rum ice cream recipe is the best (combine that with a pizzelle shaped into a cone and yay!). Another alcohol baked goodie I’m very partial to is sherry cakes.

As always remember to enjoy your booze with brains. Underage drinking can damage still developing bodies and minds, driving drunk is selfish and moronic and if your beer is a coping mechanism as well as a beverage you have a problem and need to seek help and support to deal with that problem.

It’s finally (almost) here! Faerieworlds, a huge gathering of those fascinated by everything fae. Faerieworlds goes from July 30th until August 1 and is located in Eugene, OR.

This year Faerie World Con will feature the music of Faun, Woodland, Brother, Telesma, Wendy Rule, Tricky Pixie, David Helfand, Adam Hurst, Taarka, Stellamara, Delhi 2 Dublin and Gypsy Nomads. I had only heard of a couple of these before looking more into Faerieworld, but after hearing their music I’m definitely a fan of them all now (need to stretch my music budget a little more this month maybe, because I definitely want more of their music). They have pulled together a group of musicians that is bound to give the feel of a fae court in full blown party mode. I love the mix of styles that Delhi 2 Dublin and Telesma use and Tricky Pixie is just awesome.

Music of course isn’t going to be the only thing there, but this post is already going to be quit long once we get through the gift guide and following special extra’s below. Unfortunately our travel budget this year has been rather tight (well for the past couple years nearly everyone’s has been pretty slim come to think of it), so we’re not going to be able to attend this year’s Faerieworld. This is something we definitely want to do in the future, whether it be as a vendor or just as really happy wing wearing spectators. So in the mean time enjoy today’s faetastic gift guide.

So, on to the surprise I was talking about. Your going to need some wings for Faerieworld right? From today until Aug. 1st in honor of this event we are offering a 10% discount on all wings for our readers. Just include the coupon code FAERYTIME in the notes to seller at check out. This coupon is good for custom orders as well, but the order must be officially placed by August 1st. For more on our coupon policy please check our shop policies page.

Anyone who has known me for a while knows of my love of birds and that I’ve had a variety of pet birds over the years. Currently my home is sadly birdless (but will soon contain some kittens!). When cared for with love birds are the sweetest, and in my opinion most enjoyable companions. My first bird was my beloved friend for over 8 years. We were pretty much attached at the hip (or more foot and shoulder). She was a dark gray cockatiel. who loved fly ahead of me on walks and curl up under my chin while I read. It seems silly to grieve still for a pet that has been dead for four years, but that little bird meant the world to me. We had a cockatoo who used to sneak up the stairs and try and sneak under the warm covers between me and my boyfriend. She’d introduce herself when ever someone new came over or we were out and about and would giggle hysterically as she ran/hopped away with something you needed Another was a sweet eclectics (normally a hyper kind of bird) that was so calm and mellow.

Throughout my meanderings on Etsy I have stumbled across a multitude of items created using the same (or similar) bird charm. I’ve even used it myself on a recent ear cuff. I marvel at the different ways people can use such similar components.

The American Dream is really a thing from the 1950s. Okay really the phrase was first coined in 1931 by James Truslow Adams and the ideal of the phrase is the same ideal that Declaration of Independence talks about in it’s second sentence. But the American Dream that we have all grown accustom to as being the meaning (the house with the picket fence, 2.5 kids and a dog version) is very 1950s.

The planning, the partying, and the inevitable stress are finally over. Now it’s just you and your sweetie off to your honeymoon paradise. What you get up to during this little getaway, well let’s just keep that between the two of you.

Okay crappy poetry aside, who’s day is it really but the bride’s. Now we might be taking this a little to the extreme these days. Have you seen that bridezilla show? And now there’s a new one where the bride’s compete against each other. Either that or it goes to the other extreme where everyone seems to forget it’s the bride’s day. Mother’s and mother-in-laws-to-be somehow end up trying to take the whole thing over. Of course shows like those play on the extremes. Personally I’d like to see a bride tell the monster-in-law to back off with out being bitchier than the Bride of Frankenstein, but that’s just me.

One of the big deals of a wedding is the dress. Every bride wants to be stunning in her own way. And it tends to cost a fortune to do so. Don’t get me wrong, there is a lot of work that goes into making the dresses, veils and jewelry. But if you are in the finacial position that going all out on your dress might start this new stage of life a little too far in the hole then check out this awesome tutorial ThreadBangers did a while back.

Yeah, you heard that right, $10. They also have a great tutorial on how to make a body form. If you use the bride-to-be as the model for the body form you have a perfect replica to make a dress on. If she’s into sewing as well let her keep the body form as a wedding gift (or part of it) to make her own clothes from then on.